High Street giants hit by 15% drop in sales shoppers

STORES such as Next and Marks & Spencer saw their shares fall yesterday as Boxing Day high street sales proved to be a damp squib.

- Graham Hiscott

Figures yesterday showed the number of shoppers was up 4% on last year. But it was still nearly 15% lower than in 2019.

It lead to fears about festive trading and Jenni Matthews, at retail analysts MRI Software, said the longer-term fall was down to the rise of online shopping.

The firm said high streets were nearly 9% busier than December 26 last year after experts predicted Next and M&S to be among those that enjoyed a strong run-up to Christmas.